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Message from the President

Now What?

President Colin G. Campbell

As the commemoration
of the 400th anniversary of the settlement of
Jamestown comes to a close, it is timely to look beyond the achievements of
2007 and to ask, Now what? What can match, what can top, such successes as the
Jamestown Anniversary Weekend, the visit of Queen Elizabeth II, the celebration
of the victory at Yorktown, the Godspeed Sail to six East Coast cities, the World Forum on the
Future of Democracy, and numerous events acknowledging and celebrating the
diverse cultures that came together centuries ago in America's Historic
Triangle? What did we learn from these 2007 successes, and how can we make good
use of that knowledge in 2008 and beyond?

Perhaps
the most valuable lesson was that cooperation among the region's historic sites
is a prescription for success. This suggests to me the importance of continued
collaboration among Historic Jamestowne, Jamestown Settlement, Yorktown
Battlefield, Yorktown Victory Center, and Colonial Williamsburg. It means working
closely with all institutions and jurisdictions that comprise the Historic
Triangle and that have the capacity to help set the region apart as a tourism
destination.

What has
this new collaborative spirit accomplished so far? We have created the infrastructure
for pursuing common interests not only through effective working relationships,
but also with improved guest facilities, visitor services, and programming. A
good example is the Historic Triangle Bus Shuttle System to Jamestown and
Yorktown operating from Colonial Williamsburg's Visitor Center on the Colonial
Parkway. There are many others—the Historic Triangle Web site, the new
guidebook highlighting sites and services in the region, a destination
marketing program—but the single point is that cooperative institutional
and jurisdictional initiatives have advanced the promise of the region as well
as the prospects of all its constituents. We've demonstrated to ourselves that,
working together, America's Historic Triangle can offer a rich and unique visitor experience. We are obligated to
continue that effort.

This year
we have seen the potential of America's Historic Triangle to enlighten and
entertain guests in new ways. We must build on that achievement by
understanding and supporting one another for the benefit of the visitor and for
the well-being of the destination. We must help one another make our sites
maximally visitor friendly, and we need coherence in the message we convey by
linking the stories we each tell.

The
Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown sagas are chapters in a book that begins
with the first English settlers' struggles for survival and ends with the last
major battle in the War of Independence. In no other place but America's
Historic Triangle can the story of our nation's beginnings be told as it can be
told here. In addition to continued collaboration in the region, among the
first items on my "Now what?" agenda is better communicating to the rest of
America how rich the Historic Triangle experience is, and how guests can get
the most from it.

In my conversations with our bus drivers,
what I hear over and over again is that people say, "I wish I had known how
much there was to see and do at Colonial Williamsburg and made my plans
accordingly." They are in a sense disappointed by a short stop in Williamsburg,
and they are disappointed if they haven't made the time to see the rest of the
story in Jamestown and Yorktown. "Now what?" is getting that message out. Where
to start? One place is 1-800-HISTORY, where you can order a free Vacation
Planner. Another is www.colonialwilliamsburg.com/visit/planyourvisit. A third is www.historictriangle.com. These resources are ways of sharing the message, of
describing the importance, of emphasizing the appeal of a visit to America's
Historic Triangle. Take a look. I think you'll want to block out two or three
days for this on your own "Now what?" list.